Thomas Jefferson – $5.95K, Monticello, Charlottesville, Virginia

Thomas Jefferson’s beautiful plantation home, Monticello, was 11,000 square feet in size and had twenty-three rooms. It’s uncertain if he had a mortgage. But while alive, Jefferson regularly maintained and renovated it. A lot of the house was designed by him, though he wasn’t an architect! The home was distinctive with its Neoclassical style, featuring a portico with columns and a dome. Jefferson’s home tastes were influenced by French and Renaissance styles. He included things like folding doors, beds to be tucked way into the walls, a clock running on pulleys and weights, and dumbwaiters. More than two hundred people, including slaves, lived on the property.